Monday, April 16, 2012

How I keep my kids in bed (if not asleep)

It's called My Tot Clock, I bought both (one for each of the non-baby kids) from Amazon.

Of course, now our four year old can tell time, both on the analog and digital clocks, so she needs this less and less, but it has been my savior for years. Starting a little before age 2, the kids can understand the color change, and they will actually stay in bed. You can set the time to turn blue and yellow at the bedtime and wake time of your choice (6:30pm and 6:00am for us). Yes, 6am. And it is h-a-r-d to get them to stay there that long. It's genetic, my sister and I woke our parents up well before 6am for years. Although my mother claims to have blocked it out:)

The clock also "externalizes the issue" of bedtime. You are not telling them to go to bed, the clock is. If they are taking too long to get ready, the clock will still turn blue at the same time, so you can say, "we have 10 minutes until the clock is blue. Once you are in jammies I will read until it changes color". That way your child can still have some control over their actions and decisions, without you threatening them with fewer stories or (to them) arbitrarily deciding on a bed time.

Jessica

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33 comments:

This is GREAT! I have a terrible time with my 2yr old and staying in her bed! Perfect! I like that it takes the load off of Mom or Dad saying "it's bed time" - The clock does it! Thanks for sharing! I LOVE it!!! - Kali

We have a similar clock that's a sleeping / playing bunny. I bought it for my daughter when she turned two, because her sleep time was totally messed up from day light savings time. I was hesitant to buy one because of the high price for a clock, but it's worth every penny. http://www.amazon.com/KidSleep-KSCLB-Classic-Blue/dp/B000VVIHPS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334583629&sr=8-1

I have no problem with getting the kids to bed, but I could go without the early mornings. We just bought some room darkening blinds in hopes of keeping them in bed later. LOL! I would have my clock go off at 10 am ;)

I sooooo needed this when my oldest was little!! I made a paper plate clock and showed him that he couldn't get out of bed until the hands were at a certain spot, but if he woke up early he would just sit and stare at the clock till it matched the plate. Yeah, we've messed him up pretty badly. Maybe I'll get one of these for the little girls. Thanks for linking up.

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I'm a Harvard-trained architect, now staying at home with 4 young children. I designed and built my dream house, then did it all again with a modern vacation house. I'm putting my passion for design, food and family to work. I built the dream, but I still live in reality.